The 2023 DeKalb County tennis season ended in the GHSA Tennis State Playoffs quarterfinals as the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs and Lakeside Vikings fell in their respective classifications.

The Chamblee Lady Bulldogs reached the state quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive season before falling 3-0 in a visiting role to Centennial in a matchup of two No. 1 seeds in the Class 5A girls’ tennis playoffs.

Chamblee’s Isabell Coursey fell 0-6, 1-6 to Centennial’s Mary Kate Kahl at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of Ananja Jatar and Grace Seel fell in a closer than it looked 1-6, 5-7 match against Centennial’s Sydney Powell and Carolyn Barrett.

Sophia Cheng battled in a tough 5-7, 5-7 loss at No. 2 singles to Michaela Kokeska as Centennial closed out the match.

Chamblee’s string of Elite 8 appearances dates to 2016 including three consecutive state championships (2017-19) during which they ran off a 70-1 record over the span of three years.

Class 6A Boys
The Vikings entered the Class 6A boys’ state playoffs as a No. 4 seed out of Region 4-6A and facing a series of tough road matches in advancing to the Elite 8.

Lakeside’s final match came against a No. 3 seeded Blessed Trinity on the road for the third consecutive match. Both teams had knocked off No. 1 seeds along the way.

Lakeside pushed Blessed Trinity to the limits before falling 3-2 in a very tight match that featured two three set marathons.

Lakeside’s Andy Moehlich won at No. 3 singles 6-2, 6-3 over Grayson Perlman and Lakeside’s No. 1 doubles duo of Wynnton Martin and Sam Fournier went three sets in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Ryan Jaskwhich and Mathew Thomas.

Blessed Trinity picked up wins at No. 1 singles as Michael Thomas won in straight sets (6-0, 6-2) over Lakeside’s Julian Santucci and no. 2 doubles by Noah Pearce and Brendan Pickell wining 6-2, 6-3 over Lakeside’s Derek Ranero and Chase Rothberger.

The deciding match came at No. 2 singles with Lakeside’s Shann Jani and Blessed Trinity’s Brendan Brown battling in a three-set match. Brown won the first set in a tight 6-4 score to go up one set to none.

Jani battled back to win a 7-6 tiebreaker to even the set at 1-1. Brown prevailed taking the third set 6-3 to seal the win for the home team.